1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for assembling a pair of fastener elements of a garment fastener, such as a snap fastener, a button and an ornament, with a garment fabric disposed between the two fastener elements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various fastener-assemblying apparatus are known in which a pair of fastener elements of a garment fastener is supported on a lower or die unit and an upper or punch unit, respectively; a punch of the upper unit moves toward a die of the lower unit to join the two fastener elements together in clinched condition, with a garment fabric sandwiched between the two fastener elements. With such known apparatus, there would be a danger that the operator's finger or a tool would be inadvertently jammed between the die and punch.
To this end, an improved fastener-attaching apparatus has been proposed which has a safe-confirmation member movable between an uppermost position in which the safe-confirmation member is disposed around the punch retracted from the die and a lowermost position in which the safe-confirmation member is disposed around the die in the absence of any obstacle near the die. When the safe-confirmation member arrives at the lowermost position, a detecting means produces a command signal to start lowering of the punch toward the die. However, such prior art apparatus is disadvantageous in that since the safe-confirmation member is lowered ahead of the punch, high-speed attaching of the garment fasteners cannot be achieved.